Hong Kong investors buy Seattle's tallest building

Columbia Center, the city's tallest skyscraper, was built 30 years ago. At 287.4264 m it is currently the second tallest structure on the West Coast. Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn.

Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners completed its purchase of the 76-story Columbia Center in Seattle for $711 million on Aug 7.

It ranks as one of the biggest real-estate transactions in the region's history and is the first time a large Asian investment firm has acquired a trophy tower in Seattle.

Asian institutional investors have been shopping for deals in the Seattle area over the past year. Gaw Capital bid successfully against domestic funds and long-established European investors.

The Wealth-X and Sotheby's International Realty Global Luxury Residential Real Estate Report 2015 suggested a wave of foreign-direct investment and immigration has arrived in the Pacific Northwest as an alternative to traditional West Coast gateway markets.

"We know that some secondary markets have become a primary focus for many savvy overseas investors - they target and help to create the next global cities," said Dean Jones, president and CEO of Seattle-based Realogics Sotheby's International Realty. "The Seattle-Bellevue metro area has gained favor as a destination, especially with those from China."

Asian funds have bought other commercial properties in the region.

Last year a Chinese group paid $30 million for the First Congregational Church's 1.5-acre property in downtown Bellevue.